New defence chief puts emphasis back on people

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Australia's defence forces need a people-oriented and open style
of leadership and a culture that empowers their members, the
forces' chief-in-waiting says.

In his first speech since the Federal Government announced he
would replace General Peter Cosgrove as the defence force chief,
Air Marshal Angus Houston gave insights into the sort of military
he wanted to foster and his concerns for its future.

Air Marshal Houston told the Joint Future War Fighting
Conference on Wednesday that he wondered whether the "human
dimension" to the defence force's success would exist in the
future, "because when I listen to conferences such as the one
you're conducting ... there seems to be a very heavy emphasis on
the technology".

"I think that the human dimension is what it's all about," he
said. "We need the right sort of relationships - relationships that
need to go right across the three services. We can't have any
tension there on operations."

On the question of leadership style, Air Marshal Houston said it
had to be "very open" and "people oriented", where "we get the
right balance between the focus on the people and assertiveness and
decisiveness". The leadership had to "resist any temptation to
reach down and do the job that's required of the joint taskforce
commander or his subordinate commanders".

Air Marshal Houston's appointment was welcomed by defence
analysts, who applauded his frankness over the children overboard
affair. Air Marshal Houston told a Senate committee in 2002 that he
had advised the Government before the 2001 election that there was
no evidence asylum seekers had thrown children into the water.

It was important to empower the defence force's people, he said
last week.

"Empowerment gives you creativity, empowerment gives you
innovation, empowerment gives you improvisation," he said. "People
like to be empowered, and when they're empowered they perform much
better."

Air Marshal Houston also spoke of his concerns about the
military, especially the potential impact of Australia's skills
shortage on the defence force. He said it would be increasingly
difficult to attract the sort of people the forces would need down
the track - sophisticated, highly educated and highly trained -
because "everybody's going to need the same sort of people".

"Industry will need them, we will need them, and they will be a
very expensive commodity to employ."